Cal Ripken was in the Orioles organization for many years, managing in the minors from 1961-1974, coaching in the majors from 1976-1986 and 1989-1992, and managing the big club from 1987-1988. He had a son, also named Cal, who had a fairly decent major league career.
Shortstop Leonardo Lazaro (Alfonso) Cardenas was with the Twins from 1969-1971. Born in Matanzas, Cuba, Cardenas began his professional career in 1956 as a 17-year-old in the independent Arizona-Mexico League. He then went into the Cincinnati Reds' organization. He was in Class A Savannah for two years, then Class AAA Havana for a year and a half before getting called up to the majors in late July of 1960. He was installed as the starting shortstop at the age of 21, but did not hit and was reduced to part-time status. He started 1961 as the starter as well, but again went to the bench after a lack of offense. Given another chance at the starting job in late July, Cardenas went on a tear and ended the season hitting .308, the only year of his career he hit over .300. He remained Cincinnati's starting shortstop through the 1968 season. He hit .261 in his years with the Reds, which is much better than it sounds given the offensive context of his time, especially for a shortstop. He made the all-star team every year from 1964 through 1968 except for 1967, when he was injured part of the season. He also won a Gold Glove in 1965 and finished 21st in MVP voting. Cardenas also led the league in intentional walks in 1965 and 1966. After the 1968 season, Cardenas was traded to Minnesota for Jim Merritt. He gave the Twins three solid seasons, finishing 12th in MVP voting in 1969 and 21st in 1971, when he again made the all-star team. As a Twin, Cardenas hit .263/.325/.394 for an OPS+ of 98, and also provided fine defense. After the 1971 campaign, the Twins traded Cardenas to the Angels for Dave LaRoche. 1972 would be his last as a big league regular, as he hit just .223. Just before the 1973 season started, the Angels traded him to Cleveland, where he was used as a reserve. Cardenas moved on to Texas for 1974 and 1975, and then his career was over. At last report, Leo Cardenas was living in Cincinnati and making regular appearances at Reds promotional events. He is a member of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
Left-hander Fernando Antonio Abad was with the Twins for the first four months of 2016. He was born in La Romana in the Dominican Republic and signed with Houston as a free agent in 2002. B-r.com does not have any stats for him until 2006, when he was in the Domincan Summer League with the Astros. He advanced pretty slowly, not reaching AA until 2009, and only pitching in five games of AAA in 2010, but then suddenly shot up to the majors at the end of July of 2010. He did very well there, too, posting an ERA of 2.84 and a WHIP of 1.00 in 19 innings. He apparently was used as LOOGY, as nine of his twenty-two appearances were for less than an inning. He was used similarly in 2011, but a few bad outings made his ERA skyrocket (it's hard to get your ERA down very fast when you only pitch a third of an inning at a time) and he missed the second half of the season due to injury. He came back in 2012 and pitched fairly well for four months, but fell apart at the end of the season. He's been a pretty good reliever since then, though, going to Washington in 2013, traded to Oakland before the 2014 season, and signing with the Twins in 2016. He did quite well for the Twins, going 1-4, 2.65, 1.21 WHIP in 39 appearances (34 innings). The Twins traded him to Boston on August 1 of 2016 for Pat Light. His numbers for the Red Sox the rest of the season were not very good, but he came back in 2017 to have a fine year for them. One would've thought that he would certainly be in a major league bullpen in 2018, but that's not what happened. He signed with Philadelphia, was released in spring training, signed with the Mets, and then was suspended for use of a banned substance. The Mets immediately released him and he pitched for Long Island in the Atlantic League. He signed with the Giants for 2019, came back to the majors in mid-August, and pitched pretty well for the rest of the season. He signed with Washington for 2020, but was released shortly before the season started. He signed with the Yankees a few days later but did not pitch for them and was again a free agent after the season. He signed with Baltimore for 2021 and did not have a good season in AAA, but got called up in mid-August anyway. He started out very poorly but did better in September. A free agent again, he signed with Seattle in May of 2022 and actually had a good season in AAA, but did not get called up to the majors. He signed with Colorado for 2023, came up for three games in May, was released, signed with Colorado again six days later, came up for three games in July, was released again, and signed with Milwaukee, finishing the season in AAA. He played in the Mexican League in 2024 and is currently having a fine season in winter ball. He turns thirty-nine today. It's doubtful that we'll see him in the majors again, but as we always say, he is left-handed, so you never know.
Left-hander Taylor Allen Rogers was with the Twins from 2016-2021. Born and raised in Littleton, Colorado, he attended the University of Kentucky and was drafted by Minnesota in the eleventh round of 2012. A starter through his minor league career, he pitched well throughout the low minors and had a solid season in AA in 2014. He was okay, but nothing more, in AAA in 2015 but was very good in six starts in the Arizona Fall League after that season. He began 2016 in Rochester, made one appearance with the Twins in April, then came up to stay in mid-May, pitching out of the bullpen. He struggled in September but did all right overall. He had a solid 2017 for the Twins and did even better in 2018. Three years ago, we said, "He's never been given a chance to be a closer--only two major league saves--but his numbers don't show any reason he couldn't be one." Well, he was one in 2019 and it went pretty well--2.61 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 90 strikeouts in 69 innings, 30 saves. It did not go so well in the short 2020 season, and the Twins made Alex Colome the closer at the start of the 2021 season, but before long Rogers was back to closing and was pitching well until an injury stopped his season in late July. He was expected to be the Twins' closer in 2022, but just before the season started he was traded to San Diego with Brent Rooker for Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan, and a player to be named later (Brayan Medina). As a Twin, Taylor Rogers was 17-18, 3.15, 1.15 WHIP, 50 saves. It did not go well for him in San Diego, although it appears some of that may have simply been bad luck. He was traded to Milwaukee on August 1, and things got worse for him. He signed with San Francisco for 2023, uniting him with his twin brother Tyler, and while he is not the closer he has come back to have two very good years for them. He turns thirty-four today and presumably will be an important part of the Giants' bullpen in 2025.
Left-hander Brent Wayne Headrick has pitched for the Twins in parts of 2023-2024. He was born in Braidwood, Illinois, attended Illinois State, and was drafted by Minnesota in the ninth round in 2019. He was a starter in college and through most of his minor league career. His ERA in college was 4.55, which is part of the reason he wasn't drafted until the ninth round. He was really nothing special throughout much of his minor league career. He did have an excellent half-season in Cedar Rapids in 2022, but he was a twenty-four-year-old playing in high A. He struggled when promoted to Wichita that season and was mediocre in St. Paul in 2023, although he did strike out a lot of batters in both places. He had several stints with the Twins in 2023, totaling fourteen games, all in relief. He gave up runs in eight of those games and more than one run in six, for an ERA of 6.31 in 25.2 innings. He was injured most of 2024, making one appearance with the Twins. He turns twenty-seven today and really hasn't had much success above high A. We wish him well, but he'd better figure something out pretty soon if he's going to have much of a major league career.
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